Emerald City Comic-Con 2011 re-cap

The Emerald City, Seattle, one of my favorite cities in North America. I spent the last 3 days up there for the always magnificent Emerald City Comic-Con. This is my 3rd year being a guest up there and each year has been better than the last.

I didn't get to the show until about an hour and a half after it started on Friday but once I set up it was pretty busy. My busiest day actually. The Thor print I made sold really well (sold out halfway through Saturday) and I sold some original art too, making it a great start to the convention. People love Thor. I was set up next to Brian Churilla, a fantastic artist and writer who everyone should be aware of if they weren't already. I was also across from my buddies at Steamcrow who I love dearly and always are able to supply me with tape, sound advice and evil stares. I was beat Friday night after the drive down to Phoenix and the flight and all the running around so after a nice dinner at Dragonfish, we called it an early night.

The first sketch of the show was this SPIRIT which I had a lot of fun with. Saturday started out pretty well, I sold a lot of prints and some ICARUS comics. In the end though, there seemed to be a huge crowd of people that just weren't into my work. It happens at every show and I totally understand it. I was feeling a bit low at the end of Saturday but after having a few drinks and meeting up with my writer (and publisher) of the Jesus Christ: In the Name of The Gun webcomic, Eric Peterson, I started to turn around a bit. Eric introduced me to Ethan Nicolle (Axe Cop fame) and Doug Tennapel (of Ratfist, Earthworm Jim and being super ridiculous tall fame) and the 4 of us along with my girlfriend Michelle talked for a while. It was fun picking Doug's brain and talking about comics. Those guys really made me feel better about my work. Michelle and I walked around a bit, had another drink at another bar and called it a night. I wish I was able to talk to more creators but I'm notoriously shy and always feel as if I am imposing at these social gatherings.

Sunday was slow as well but when all was said and done it was the best Emerald City I had done. I spent some time Sunday chatting with cool guys like Andy Kuhn and the only Atlanta Thrashers fan in Vancouver, Jason Copland, (check out his Kill All Monsters webcomic). I talked shop with writer Mark Sable and poured over Paul Azacleta's amazing pages for their new book Graveyard of Empires.

I also finally met some guys who I have only known online for a while, Evan Shaner, Mitch Gerads, and Chris Samnee. Chris is one of my favorite artists working right now and he was very nice and humble. I'm a big fan. I geeked out chatting with Guy Davis and didn't get a chance, or the nerve, to talk to Sean Murphy. Overall though it was a great show and I hope to do some work in the next year that will make those awesome fellas at Emerald City Comic-Con want to have me back in 2012. Thanks again, as always, to Brian Meredith for making it all happen.